As we all know, Debian currently does not load non-free firmware on its systems by default;Phoronix It is pointed out that this move means that the relevant hardware will lack hardware acceleration support, and it may also mean that security updates will be missed or the corresponding usability issues will be resolved.

In response, Debian held discussions earlier this year about changing its stance on closed-source firmware; it has now moved to a comprehensive decision-making process to solicit stakeholder votes on what to do with non-free firmware.

The discussion period ends in early September, and three proposals are being considered:

Proposal A – Will include non-free-firmware from Debian archives on official installation media. The included firmware binaries are usually enabled by default if the system determines they need it, but where possible also provide a way for the user to disable it at boot (via boot menu options, kernel command line, etc.).

When the Installer/live system is running, information about the loaded firmware (free and non-free) is provided to the user and stored on the target system for later discovery by the user. By default, the target system will also be configured to use non-free-firmware components by default in the apt sources.list file. “Our users should receive security updates and critical fixes for firmware binaries like any other installed software.”

These images will be released as official Debian media, replacing media sets that currently do not contain non-free firmware packages.

Proposal B – In a similar manner to Proposal A, the non-free firmware Included in official media.But the difference is that while these images are officially released, theyWon’tReplaces current ones that do not contain non-free firmware packages media sets, but is provided alongside it. Images containing non-free firmware will be presented more prominently for easy finding; fully-free images will not be hidden; they will be linked from the same project page, but with lower visual priority.

Proposition C – The Debian Project allows distribution media that contain packages from the non-free part of the Debian archive,and make itAvailable for download with free media to inform users of what is free before downloading.

More details can be viewed Debian general resolution page.